A memorial to those who died, near the site of Grenfell Tower.
Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The scars of traumatic bereavement never go away. This is especially the case when people have been killed as a result of negligence or poor decision-making by others. But the wounds of survivors, and other people directly affected by calamities such as the Grenfell Tower fire in London two years ago, should become less raw and painful over time – provided they believe justice has been served and lessons learned. In the aftermath of the Hillsborough stadium disaster, Paddington rail crash and other tragedies, survivors grouped together to comfort one another. They also campaigned for justice and for changes in public policy that would ensure the same mistakes were not repeated. Many of the people who survived, or were bereaved by, the fire that consumed Grenfell Tower in the early hours of 14 June 2017 have chosen the same path.

The survivors demanded a public inquiry, and argued that the judge appointed to run it, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, should not sit alone but with a panel, to ensure greater diversity of experience and view. They were partly successful when a panel was appointed for the inquiry’s second stage. They called for cladding similar to that which caught fire at Grenfell to be stripped from more than 400 other high-rise buildings, and for sprinklers to be fitted and defective fire doors repaired. Working with tenant and leaseholder groups, they have again had partial success. Work on most council and housing association blocks is under way, and the government pledged last month to pay for private buildings to be altered. This followed months of refusals by owners to fund the work, and on Wednesday the campaign group Grenfell United arranged for flats in Newcastle, Manchester and London to be lit up with projected slogans as a way of highlighting ongoing and unacceptable risks.

Of wider significance, in the sense that they could affect many more people, are proposals for a new social housing regulator and national tenants’ union. These were key recommendations of the social housing commission convened last year by the charity Shelter, with former Grenfell resident Edward Daffarn among its commissioners. Whatever the public inquiry concludes, it is plain that the trust between the landlord and tenants had broken down long before the fire and residents’ legitimate concerns had not been taken seriously. Yet since last year’s promise of a “new deal” for social housing tenants, the government has done almost nothing.

That the Grenfell campaigners continue to lobby for new laws, as well as practical safety measures, is to their credit. It is heartening to see how, even in the midst of grief and trauma, people can work so hard for the good of others. By contrast, ever since the fire’s immediate aftermath when Theresa May refused to meet survivors, ministers have been shockingly dilatory in their reactions. Despite warm words, they seem unable to grasp that a 30-year obsession with deregulation is deeply implicated in what happened.

Housing is not the only policy area to have been neglected by this government. But the fact that the Grenfell fire happened on its watch makes its lack of action difficult to forgive. Ministers last week proposed a new body to enforce tougher rules for tall residential buildings. But a new regulatory framework for social housing, and new powers for tenants including a national organisation to represent them, would form part of a fitting memorial to the 72 Londoners who died. It is the very least that the survivors and bereaved deserve.